Roman Kofman

Conductor

In 1961 Roman Kofman graduated from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Kiev with a degree in violin and two years later he became the leader of the Kiev Chamber Orchestra. In 1971 he got a degree in conducting and in 1978 he was appointed professor at the Kiev Tchaikovsky Conservatory where he still teaches as the head of the symphony and opera conductorship class. Roman Kofman was the chief conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of the Donetsk Philharmonic in the Ukraine, the Seoul Symphony Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of the Pomeranian Philharmonic (Poland); he also was a guest conductor with the National Opera in Warsaw. Since 1990 he has been the chief conductor and artistic director of the Kiev Chamber Orchestra. At the beginning of the 1990s he founded with a student of his the Ukrainian National Philharmonic. A tour with this orchestra in the early 1990s brought him invitations for guest performances and recording with major West European orchestras (Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Saarland Radio Symphony Orchestra, The Radio Symphony Orchestra of Central Germany, Munich Philharmonic etc.) as well as invitations to conduct in the U.S., Asia and Africa. In 2002 he won the German Critics Prize for his recording of Tchaikovsky opera arias with Julia Varady. He has recording contracts with Melodia, Teldec, Orfeo etc. In 2003 he was awarded the title of “National Artist of the Ukraine”. Roman Kofman is the author of orchestral, chamber and choral works, incidental and film music. He has also published a book called Conductors. Psychological Elements. Since the 2003/2004 season he holds the post of the General Music Director in Bonn and is the chief conductor of the Beethoven Orchestra based in the same city.